Taiwan’s Flag is an Untruthful Representation of Taiwan Today

I was unaware of Taiwan’s red-white-and-blue flag before the age of sixteen. The Taiwanese flags in my Ahma (grandmother) and Ahkong’s (grandfather) suburban New Jersey home were exclusively green and white, which I later learned to be the Taiwan independence movement flag.

When Apple added the ROC flag emoji in 2019 to represent Taiwan, I remember being extremely confused. I saw that many of my Taiwanese American friends had put the emoji in their Instagram bios and accordingly put it in my bio. Within minutes, I got a text from my mother demanding that I delete the emoji because my grandparents despise what it represents. At this point, I was even more perplexed. Why did my grandparents despise the red-white-and-blue flag? Even more so, was I to condemn the political views of people who had the ROC flag emoji in their Instagram bio?

The origins of today’s ROC flag 

Formosa Files, a podcast hosted by John Ross and Eryk Michael Smith, recently produced an insightful episode on the history of flags in Taiwan. The creation of the ROC flag spans back to 1905, when Chinese statesman Dr. Sun Yat-sen founded the Chinese United League (or Tongmenghui), a secret society whose purpose was to overthrow the Qing Empire’s rule over China. The flag of the Chinese United League resembles the white sun and blue background of the ROC flag today. After Dr. Sun Yat-sen passed away, his successor Chiang Kai-shek added the red background, per his predecessor’s request, and officially replaced the flag of the Republic of China with the red-white-and-blue flag in 1928. The white sun and blue background also became the symbol of the Kuomintang (KMT), or Chinese Nationalist Party, and to this day remains as the canton of the ROC flag.

Official ROC flag as of 1928

Following their defeat in the Chinese Civil War (1927-1949), Chiang Kai-shek and the KMT retreated to Taiwan and imposed martial law from 1949 to 1987, bringing the ROC flag with them. Better known as the White Terror, this 38-year span of Taiwan’s history was defined by mass violence and political repression of Taiwanese civilians by the KMT government. To this day, the number of Taiwanese lives lost is unknown, and many Taiwanese who lived through martial law still resent the red-white-and-blue flag due to what it represents: the repression of Taiwanese democracy and independence by the KMT.

The crux of the problem with the ROC flag is that it, along with the ROC constitution, was not designed by the people of Taiwan. They are instead products of Chinese colonialism that do not accurately convey the will of the Taiwanese people. 

It wasn’t until after 1986, the year that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) of Taiwan was established, that the green and white independence flag became more widely known in Taiwan. In fact, the DPP directly challenged the KMT political party, and their flag is based on the Taiwan independence flag. The Taiwan independence flag was created by the World Taiwanese Congress (WTC) and is often used today by pro-Taiwan independence groups in Taiwan and internationally.

World Taiwanese Congress flag

Democratic Progressive Party flag

How to represent Taiwan

On the one hand, Taiwan’s global presence in today’s world was unimaginable several years ago. In the wake of Russia’s attack on Ukraine, Taiwan has garnered a lot of media attention recently, including awareness of the ROC flag. While this increased awareness has been beneficial in some respects (e.g. more foreign policy experts have turned their attention to Taiwan), the ROC flag has presented Taiwanese and Taiwanese Americans with a complex dilemma: Taiwan is fighting for international recognition using a flag that does not accurately represent its people today.

In essence, Taiwan is faced with two situations that embody conflicting values:

Wrong flag, wrong name. In the Olympics, not only is Taiwan forced to compete under the name “Chinese Taipei,” but Taiwanese athletes are also prohibited from carrying the ROC flag. Taiwanese athletes have been forced to wave around the “Plum Blossom Banner” since 1981, a purposely ambiguous name for the flag that disavows Taiwan’s legitimacy as an independent country and that would not anger the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Taiwan’s Olympic team holding the plum blossom banner

Right flag, wrong name. Taiwan’s success in the Little League World Series (LLWS) baseball games is a tremendous source of pride for the Taiwanese and Taiwanese American community. Unlike the Olympics, the LLWS team uses the ROC flag, but they still compete under the name “Chinese Taipei.” This creates a disjointed image of Taiwan that confuses Taiwanese Americans and, more generally, any LLWS-watcher.

The duality of the ROC flag in the sentiments it evokes is confusing and complex. Many Taiwanese and Taiwanese Americans alike have experienced simultaneous pride and frustration when viewing images like the ones above. 

Taiwan at the 2023 Little League World Series

A new flag for Taiwan

Therefore, I argue that the currently recognized ROC flag should be changed because it should not exclusively represent one political party. The new flag should be all-encompassing to mitigate confusion around Taiwanese identity and how Taiwanese Americans view their own heritage. 

The canton of Taiwan’s flag should not reflect the party symbol of the KMT or that of any other party. It should represent the vibrant democracy of Taiwan’s 23 million people—it should be symbolic of Taiwan’s collective identity today, not Taiwan’s fractured identity from nearly 100 years ago. Adopting a flag that accurately represents the people of Taiwan today could also result in a more cohesive sense of nationalism domestically (i.e. in Taiwan) and strengthen Taiwanese identity internationally. Taiwanese Americans like me can put a Taiwan flag in our Instagram bios that conveys the pride we take in our heritage, without others questioning one’s political views on Taiwan’s situation.  

Some may argue that since many Taiwanese and Taiwanese Americans already strongly identify with the current flag and take pride in it, there is no need to change it. For those who affiliate with the KMT, this sentiment may ring especially true due to the ROC flag’s close ties to the political party, dating back to when Chiang Kai-shek brought the flag to Taiwan in 1949. 

While I do acknowledge the validity of this viewpoint, I would challenge Taiwanese and Taiwanese Americans to question: why take pride in a flag when it does not represent a collective Taiwanese identity today? The current KMT-biased flag has too much history—it would be the equivalent of the U.S. having the Confederate Flag or a 36-star flag as its national flag today. Thus, it is essential to change the flag to solidify both a cohesive Taiwanese identity.

Given Taiwan’s vibrant democracy, a potential solution would be to have Taiwanese artists create flag designs and to put those flags to a vote. It is ultimately up to those in Taiwan to make this change. The Formosan Association for Public Affairs (FAPA), for example, have just recently hosted such a flag contest. 

I would encourage Taiwanese and Taiwanese Americans alike to view the ROC flag emoji with criticism. Even further, I would challenge Taiwanese and especially Taiwanese Americans to educate themselves and their peers about the history of the flag. 

The truth is that the ROC flag is problematic. It is time for Taiwan’s government to adopt a new flag more representative of Taiwanese identity today. 

(Feature photo by Calin Brown)